Petron Blaze Boosters Basketball Updates

Photo Credit: PBA.ph

With the loss of Dorian Pena due to injury, the San Miguel Beermen continues to struggle in the end game failing to close out games against a hot shooting team in Talk N Text Tropang Texters lead by rookie Jared Dillinger as they lose Game 4, 106-103.

Dorian’s absence left a big hole in the middle and also took away San Miguel’s post threat. That enables even point guard Jimmy Alapag to easily drive to the basket.

Despite Dorian’s loss, the Beermen has still managed to make the game close. The only problem is that they fail to execute during crunch time capped by several costly turnovers. Danny Seigle and Jay Washington carried the fight for the Beermen.

Talk N Text Tropang Texters rookie Jared Dillinger shines as he recorded his new career high – 27 points exploding heavily in the first quarter.

The Beermen have put themselves in a hole that is hard to get out of. At 1-3 disadvantage, they need to win three straight games to advance to the finals. Can they still make it? Well, there’s still hope. They just need to take it one game at a time. Once they reach 3-3, it will be a totally different series. It will be goodbye or live another day on Friday!

Catch the full game news story below from the Philippine Basketball Association (pba.ph).

TALK ‘N TEXT A WIN AWAY FROM RETURNING TO ALL-PINOY FINALS
Dillinger, Alapag biggest thorns on SMB side in Game 4
Wednesday, 21 January 2009

AS quickly as they blew away a huge lead, the Talk ‘N Text Tropang Texters were as fast in getting back their bearings and taking control.

Rookie Jared Dillinger scored a career-high 27 points and Jimmy Alapag and Mark Cardona picked up their offensive rhythm in the fourth quarter to spark Talk ‘N Text to a 106-103 victory Wednesday night in Game 4 the KFC-PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series.

The come-from-behind win gave the Tropang Texters a commanding 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven duel and moved them within the threshold of making their first Philippine Cup Finals appearance since losing to Barangay Ginebra during the 2004-05 season.

“I want to meet the scriptwriter of this series,” said TNT coach Chot Reyes during the post-game interview as he noted the many exhilarating twists and turns of the series’ first four games.

“Just when we thought he had the game sealed the other team would make a comeback and it would always come down to the last shot,” Reyes explained.

Game 5 will be on Friday and Game 6, if necessary, will be played Sunday. Both games will also take place at the Cuneta Astrodome.

“I don’t expect Friday to be the end (of the series),” said Reyes, maintaining a low profile apparently to keep his troops focused.

Game Four appeared lopsided.

At first.

The Tropang Texters signified their intention to pin the Beermen to the ground by quickly taking control of the match that seemed already over and done with midway in the second quarter.

Dillinger, the second pick overall in last year’s draft, was the man of the hour for TNT in the first half.

The rookie hit practically everything he threw in his finest moment as a pro so far that he even outscored the SMB bench at one point in the first quarter.

Dillinger, who combined for a total 23 points in the first three games of the series, accounted for 20 of his teams output in the first half. He went 7-for-9 from the floor including 4-of-4 from the 3-point arc.

The Tropang Texters appeared to be coasting to victory when they erected a 49-31 advantage late in the second quarter on Renren Ritualo’s 3-pointer. TNT ended the half with a 57-48 lead.

Alapag then took over where Dillinger left off, scoring all his 18 points in the second half, 16 of them in the fourth. The output of Talk ‘N Text’s starting point guard was matched by Cardona, who poured in 10 points in the fourth, while Harvey Carey grabbed 13 rebounds for TNT.

Then Jay Washington, who returned to SMB’s rotation a proud father of a six-pound baby boy, made the game exciting in the third quarter.

The athletic forward, who missed Game 3 to be with his wife who was laboring with their first child, scored 14 of his 23 points in the third as the Beermen picked up the pace, gobbled up TNT’s huge lead and took the lead at 68-66 by opening the quarter with a 20-9 run.

The lead exchanged hands a couple of times but SMB managed to stay ahead, 81-74, entering the fourth.

“Against a team as good as San Miguel, all we want is a crack in the end,” Reyes said. “All we want is to stay with them.”

But when push comes to shove, Reyes said, TNT’s refusal to lose and their ability to stick together enabled them to emerge victorious.

The Beermen, who now face a tough task of winning three in a row to survive, held a 94-92 lead after Dondon Hontiveros sank two free throws with a little over five minutes remaining.

But Jimmy Alapag, the hero of Game 3, answered with a layup then knocked in a three with 3:49 left for a three-point lead the Tropang Texters held on to until the final buzzer.

SMB actually had a chance to tie the game with time winding down but rookie Bonbon Custodio made two bad passes and missed a potential overtime-game-sending triple for the Beermen’s final nail in the coffin.

Danny Siegle led all scorers with a personal conference-high 29 points and Dondon Hontiveros added 18 but both of them were not able to provide the spark when the Beermen needed it most. (DBC)

The scores:

Talk ‘N Text 106 – Dillinger 27, Cardona 18, Alapag 18, Ritualo 11, De Ocampo R. 8, Carey 8, De Ocampo Y. 7, Peek 6, Castro 3, Lao 0.

San Miguel 103 – Seigle 29, Washington 23, Hontiveros 18, Pennisi 10, Villanueva 7, Gonzales 7, Pingris 5, Custodio 4, Bono 0, Tugade 0, Racela 0.

Quarterscores: 25-20, 57-48, 74-81, 106-103.